The Harlington, Harmondsworth and Cranford
Cottage Hospital was built on a site
surrounded by fields (even today) as a joint venture by three
parishes. Opening in 1884, it had 7 beds.

The building was later extended. The
Hospital then had 14 beds.

In 1948 the Hospital joined the NHS under
the control of the
Uxbridge Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North West
Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. It became a
GP maternity unit.

In 1950 nursery accommodation was provided,
so that all 14 beds could be used.

During the 1950s the Hospital had been under
threat of demolition for some time because of a scheme to extend London
Airport north of the Bath Road. Although by 1957 the threat
no longer applied, the future of the Hospital remained uncertain as a
new larger maternity department was being planned at Hillingdon Hospital.

In 1957 the weekly cost of an in-patient was
£21 1s 5d (£21.07).

In 1959 the kitchen was upgraded.

By the 1960s the Hospital needed a considerable sum of money to be
spent on it. To the south a new passenger terminal was being
built for the Airport, while to the north work was being carried out on
the new M4 motorway.
The Hospital's needs were more modest - a second Labour Room.

In 1963 the Hospital was finally connected
to the main drainage system instead of using a cesspool. A small
brick hut was built for the storage and preparation of vegetables.

The Hospital closed in 1977, a time when
maternity
beds within the NHS were being transferred to general hospitals.

Present status (June
2008)
The
building is now occupied by the Sant
Nirankari Mission,
a Sikh group. It lies, along with the doomed village of
Sipson, within the area for the projected third runway for
Heathrow Airport.

The former Cottage Hospital

Building works being carried out to the side of the block.

A memorial stone commemorating the
installation of an operating theatre.